Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 401 Three Princes Open a Mansion

Hall of Mental Cultivation,
There was only the sound of a few people breathing, and it was eerily quiet. I didn’t know if it was the wind or the incense that was drifting over.
Zhang Jinyu, who was still thinking about making excuses, suddenly smelled the fragrance and woke up suddenly. After looking up at the desk, she saw Empress Jiang's expectant eyes and couldn't say no.
It seemed that he was going to give the queen a free meal. The scalper had to work hard and had to reply,
"Returning to your Majesty, I don't quite understand what your Majesty means. I am a military general with a lot of brute strength. I don't know anything about the Confucian scholarship of the Four Books and Five Classics. I don't know anything about it. I can't teach you princes anything about military formation strategy. , I am not as good as the Duke of Zhen and others. The three princes are naturally intelligent and so handsome. I feel ashamed and I am afraid that I cannot teach them."

Queen Jiang smiled and didn't care.

"Marquis Luo Yun is self-effacing. It's not like you are the one to teach the three of them. The Confucian scriptures you mentioned are taught by civil servants. Those military arts and other things can only be read occasionally. There is no need for you to worry about it."

This was beyond Zhang Jinyu's expectation. It seemed that he had thought wrongly, but the queen's excitement was still unavoidable.

"What does the lady mean?"

"My intention is to let you take over the position of commander-in-chief of the three princes' palaces. Please take a closer look. As for the daily guards, they are led by the imperial guards. They each lead the guards to guard them. I am afraid that there will be any omissions. , so I hope Marquis Luo Yun will visit more often."

It turned out that this was the case. Zhang Jinyu breathed a sigh of relief. This matter was easy to deal with. He just went over every few days to take a look and take a walk. However, the empress did everything possible to tie her into the boat. She pitied the hearts of all parents in the world.

He took a careful look at Emperor Wu, and there was nothing he didn't agree with. It seemed that he acquiesced. It was just what they had agreed upon. They could only take one step at a time, then nodded in agreement.

"I agree, but your majesty, empress, I dare to ask one more question, how do you arrange the guards in the mansion when three princes open it?"

"According to the ancestral system, the queen is granted the title of queen and is protected by a force of 500 people, including eunuchs and maids. Does Marquis Luo Yun have any questions?"

Emperor Wu was self-righteous, and immediately told him that according to the ancestral system for the title of queen, the palace could only have 500 guards at most. Only the prince had 2000 guardsmen. This had always been the case. What did Marquis Luo Yun mean?

"Your Majesty, I am boldly asking, which prince do you and your Majesty like to be the heir apparent?"

Dai Quan was a little dumbfounded. He didn't expect Marquis Luo Yun to be so bold and dare to ask about this matter. What all the courtiers wanted to ask but didn't dare to ask was suddenly spoken out by Marquis Luo Yun.

I subconsciously scolded him.
"Be brave, Marquis Luo Yun, is this what you should ask?"

Emperor Wu waved his hand to stop Dai Quan's words and stared at Zhang Jinyu, not hiding anything.
"I haven't thought about it yet. It depends on the fate of the three of them. Please tell me clearly what you mean."

With this remark,
Emperor Wu Zhou Shihong finally expressed his stance, and everyone in the room understood that the crown prince was also the prince, and the three princes had to fight for themselves, so they began to fight for the heir.

"Back to Your Majesty, I have encountered many things in Jiangnan. I have special skills. There are many things that I, my soldiers, and the Forbidden Army brothers really cannot do. However, the people of the Imperial City Department can come out in large numbers. Those assassinations, hiding, Even the poisoners can be identified, so I believe that the internal guards of the Imperial City Division must be stationed in the three princes' residences openly, and secretly they must be protected by secret guards, so they will be absolutely foolproof."

Zhang Jinyu made a key point. In many cases, the Imperial Guards were useless and didn't know anything. On the contrary, under Ji Yunhui's command in the south of the Yangtze River, the Imperial City Guards were quite easy to use.

Emperor Wu was a little hesitant. This matter was against the ancestral system. The courtiers and officials had been staring at this matter for a long time. The queen agreed with her face. No matter how careful she was about the safety of her three sons, Emperor Wu was too late. Chi Buyu was really puzzled and asked with some dissatisfaction,
"Your Majesty, what Marquis Luo Yun said is absolutely true. Before Marquis Luo Yun came to the capital from outside the customs, there was actually a silver robbery case in the capital by remnants of the Taiping Sect. I am really worried."

"What you said is correct, but it goes against the ancestral system. Are the courtiers watching?"

Emperor Wu was not trying to shirk, but he was afraid that the courtiers would use this as an excuse to decide on a prince immediately. At that time, there would be a series of contacts, and there would inevitably be some omissions. However, Dai Quan, who had been silent all this time, rolled his eyes and had an idea. , came together,
"Your Majesty, does this old slave have an idea?"

"Well, tell me what you can do."

Emperor Wu didn't speak, but Empress Jiang asked anxiously.

"Reply to Your Majesty, Madam, what I want from this old slave is that since the Marquis has received the post of commander, how could he not have the troops to command? It would be better to add some troops to the command. This soldier was not arranged by Your Majesty. It was the Marquis himself who selected them, but the emperor has no final say as to how many people there will be."

Zhang Jinyu couldn't help but admire Dai Quan's ability to adapt to changes. As expected, he was the general manager and had been able to hold his position for many years.
"I would like to ask your Majesty to arrange for some royal guards to be commanded within the city."

Emperor Wu breathed out a sigh of relief, looked at the cooperation between the two, and nodded.

"I agree, but you can't be stingy. Marquis Luo Yun, you will choose one thousand households of the Royal City Guards and two thousand Guards soldiers, and you will personally lead and guard the residences of the three princes."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I want someone. Ji Yunhui, the Qianhu of the Imperial City, and his people can do it. If there are not enough people, you can make up for it from the team going south. Finally, I have to ask Lu Yi, the commander of the Cao Transport Guards. Thanks to him for guarding us all the way and commanding the navy well. Your Majesty, I feel that the navy fleet cannot be broken up. If we keep it and maintain it well, it will be of great use."

"I agree. The naval fleet will follow your words. We will discuss it after the reward is granted. You and Dai Quan can discuss this matter. You must be careful. It is getting late. Dai Quan, prepare a banquet. Let's Marquis Luo Yun will leave after finishing his meal."

"Yes, Your Majesty, Lord Marquis, please."

Dai Quan came over and patted Zhang Jinyu on the shoulder before he realized that he had been preparing for a long time. The so-called banquet meant eating alone in the palace. He thought he was eating with the emperor.

This is what happened for a long time, that’s all, he stood up and thanked him without any restraint, saying,
"My lord, Zhang Jinyu thanks your majesty, and I will take my leave."

Zhang Jinyu bowed his hands and bowed to leave. Then he followed Dai Quan out of the imperial study and walked to a side room of the Yangxin Hall. Even though he was far away, he smelled the aroma of vegetables and had a meal. ,good.

into the house,
He saw a large table of delicacies, but there was no wine. He was surrounded by palace maids standing solemnly, surrounding him. Then Dai Quan also entered the room and said, "Master Marquis, the Za family will not accompany you here anymore. Master Hou has finished his meal." You can call the young eunuch waiting outside the door at any time, and he will take the Marquis away, and the Za family will have to go back to serve the Emperor Huang."

"Thank you very much for informing me, the eunuch. I really miss the eunuch. I didn't bring any good things with me to Jiangnan this time. They are just some common things. I will keep them to share with the eunuch and show some friendship."

Zhang Jinyu took out the banknotes that he had prepared long ago from his pocket and slowly put them into Dai Quan's hand.

Dai Quan originally thought it was only 1 taels of silver, but he never thought that it was directly the banknotes from Sihai Bank, which amounted to 10 taels, each with a denomination of 5 taels. He had never received so much filial piety at one time. He is still as heroic as Marquis Luo Yun.

As if understanding, his hand retracted into his sleeve, and then stretched out again, just like usual, except that the banknote was nowhere to be seen, it was neat and tidy.

"The Marquis is interested, and the Za family knows it well. The Marquis is here to eat slowly and don't be in a hurry. As for the guards of the three princes and the Imperial City Division, the Za family said that the Marquis can just go to Ji Yunhui and pick whatever he wants. Just leave it to him, and the Marquis will go to the three princes' houses every few days to inspect it. As for the future, it will only take a long time."

"Then I have thanked the internal minister for this, and the future will be long."

After speaking, Dai Quan stopped staying and took his chamberlain back to the Imperial Study Room to serve him. Zhang Jinyu walked to the table and sat down. The palace maid handed over a wet brocade cloth to clean her hands. Then she picked up the chopsticks and ate happily. stand up.

imperial study room,
When Emperor Wu saw Marquis Luo Yun leaving, he said,
"You three, come here. Do not tell anyone what is going on here. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Father, I understand."

The three princes nodded quickly, for fear of making their father angry. Seeing the three of them like this, Zhou Shihong was a little angry and shouted;

"Come here, I was really delayed on some chores the past few days. Take out the strategy you wrote and take a look at it."

The three princes trembled, looked at each other, moved over reluctantly, and placed the rice paper on the desk in front of Emperor Wu one by one.

Zhou Shihong snorted, picked it up, opened it and looked over. The first one was written by the eldest prince Zhou Ding. The writing was neat, but his views were average and he didn't understand the so-called inner meaning at all. He put down the eldest prince's strategy and picked up the second prince's book. When I opened it, I saw that the font was crooked and unseemly, and the content was unreadable.

Emperor Wu wanted to get angry, but he held it back, threw away the rice paper, and picked up Lao San's policy. It looked like the handwriting was OK and could be read, but the content turned out to be random. There were a lot of quotations from classics, but none of them could. use.

"Hey, this is the policy you wrote. It has no achievements, is sluggish, cannot see the essence, and is unsightly. But I once said that the three of you should separate your order and choose the palace for yourself, so I still give it to you. Comment."

Emperor Wu took the cinnabar brush used to approve the red and wrote on the rice paper of the three princes, A, B, and C. Naturally, the eldest prince got A, the third prince got B, and the second prince got C.

"There are mansions all over the capital, southeast, northwest, and you three have decided which one to choose. Zhou Ding, if you get the first prize, you come first!"

Zhou Ding did not hesitate and directly chose the mansion on the east side. There were many nobles there, so it should be better.
"Father, I will choose the palace in the east,"

"Why?"

"Going back to my father, there are quite a few courtiers living there in the East City, and there are also quite a few government palaces. It should be a little quieter. I heard that merchants gathered in Nancheng and Xicheng, and it was very lively. I like peace and quiet, so I chose Dongcheng. .”

"Well, OK, it's your turn to choose Zhou Long."

Emperor Wu agreed with what the eldest prince said, and then chose the third prince Zhou Long.

The third prince is not timid either. He has already thought of a place to go. He heard that the number one brothel in the capital is in Beicheng, which is also where literati gather. He is good at writing, and there are all the civil service academies here, which is very suitable for him.

"Father, I have already made up my mind to choose Beicheng. I heard that there are poetry gatherings held in the capital there. I think I can learn a lot there,"

"Not bad, okay."

Emperor Wu was pleased, then looked at the second prince and asked,

"Zhou Chong, which place do you choose?"

When Zhou Chong saw that his eldest brother and his three younger brothers had finished choosing, when he heard his father's question, he also pointed to the west and said;

"I chose the west side. I think my eldest brother and third brother are right, but I like the excitement, so I won't go to the east city. My third brother has already chosen the north side. There are many civil servants and students in the west city. When it comes to poetry, Meetings were held several times in Xicheng. I felt that it was not much worse than the north and I could learn a lot, so I chose the west."

"Okay, acknowledging your mistakes can make a lot of improvements. That's it. You guys get ready and leave the palace to open the mansion in three days."

"Yes, Father!"

(End of this chapter)